The Watchman On The Wall

Eph 6:12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places. Verse 13 Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.

Tuesday, December 9, 2014

The Smallest Are The Bravest

Some of the bravest Christian martyrs this generation may
ever know are teenagers—and perhaps even younger.

When Islamic
State militants threatened four children in Iraq—all under the age of 15—with
death if they did not promise to follow Islam's "prophet" Muhammad,
they defiantly stated, "No. We love Yasua (Jesus). We have always followed
Yasua."

Andrew White, an
Anglican priest known as the "Vicar of Baghdad," has seen violence
and persecution against Christians unprecedented in recent decades. In aCBN Newsvideo embeddedon
this site, he recounts the story of the Iraqi Christian children who
were told by ISIS militants to convert to Islam or be beheaded.

"ISIS
turned up and they said to the children, 'You say the words that you will
follow Muhammad,'" White says on the video.

"The
children, all under 15, four of them, they said, 'No, we love Yasua. We have
always loved Yasua. We have always followed Yasua. (This spelling is similar to
the Hebrew name, Yeshua, which is translated "Jesus" in English and
Spanish.) Yasua has always been with us,'" White recounted. "[The
militants] said, 'Say the words!' [The children] said, 'No, we can't do that.'

"They
chopped all their heads off."

White's account
does not make clear whether he personally witnessed the children's martyrdom,
nor does it say where in Iraq this occurred.

"How do you
respond to that?" he asked rhetorically. "You just cry. They are my
children. That is what we have been going through. That is what we are going
through."

"[Militants]
say to one man, an adult, 'You say the words of conversion or we will kill all
of your children.' He was desperate. He said the words. Then he phoned me and
said '[Father], I said the words, does that mean Yasua doesn't love me anymore?
I have always loved Yasua. I said those words because I couldn't see my
children be killed.' I said, 'Jesus still loves you. He will always love
you.'"